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Pressed Beef

A preserved beef product made by boiling, seasoning, and canning the meat.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Pressed Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the beef

  1. Place the beef in a kettle and cover with cold water.

  2. Bring to a boil and cook until well done.

  3. Remove all bones and cut the meat into small pieces.

Pack and process

  1. Mix the meat with salt and spices, then pack into 1 lb. flat cans.

  2. Reduce the cooking liquid to 2½ gallons, add the vinegar, and pour over the meat in the cans.

  3. Tip the cans and process for 45 minutes at 250°F (120°C).

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Allspice + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Beef
Provides the protein base that cooks down into the body of the pressed meat.
Coarse sea salt
Seasons the meat and draws out moisture that helps preserve and firm the pack.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavour and helps preserve the meat.
Black pepper
Adds pungent heat and aroma that season the meat throughout.

The step that matters

Tip the cans and process for 45 minutes at 250°F (120°C). Heating at a low, steady temperature for the full time ensures the contents are heated through evenly and safely. Tipping the cans lets the hot liquid circulate around the meat during processing.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, clove, cinnamon, allspice, pepper, vinegar):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, clove, cinnamon, allspice, pepper, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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